W h y s o m e c o m p a n I e s m a k e t h e
Cultural and Operating Practices
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- 1920s: Cartoons 1930s: Full-length feature animation 1950s: Television, Mickey Mouse Club 1960s: Theme parks 1980s: International
| Cultural and Operating Practices Specific Goals and Strategies Over time, Disney theme parks have become a cornerstone experience for many families from allover the world. Throughout all these dramatic changes-from cartoons to full-length feature animation, from the Mickey Mouse Club to Disney World-the company held firmly to a consistent set of core values that included passionate belief in creative imagination, fanatic attention to detail, abhorrence of cynicism, and preservation of the "Disney Magic" Mr. Disney also instilled a remarkable constancy of purpose that permeated every new Disney venture-namely, to bring happiness to millions, especially children. This purpose cut across national borders and has endured through time. When my wife and I visited Israel in 1995, we met the man who brought Disney products to the Middle East. "The whole idea" he told us with pride, "is to bring a smile to a child's face. That's really important here, where there aren't enough smiles on the children" Walt Disney provides a classic case of preserve the core and stimulate progress, holding a core ideology fixed while changing strategies and practices overtime, and its adherence to this principle is the fundamental reason why it has endured as a great company. Good to Great 1920s: Cartoons 1930s: Full-length feature animation 1950s: Television, Mickey Mouse Club 1960s: Theme parks 1980s: International the Progress at Walt Disney Company, G O OD B HAGS, BAD B HAGS, AND OTHER C ONCE PT U ALL INKS In the table on page 198, I've outlined a sketch of conceptual links between the two studies. As a general pattern, the Good-to-Great ideas appear to lay the groundwork for the ultimate success of the Built to Last ideas. I like to think of Good to Great as providing the core ideas forgetting a flywheel turning from buildup through breakthrough, while Built to Last outlines the core ideas for keeping a flywheel accelerating long into the future and elevating a company to iconic stature. You will notice in examining the table that each of the Good-to-Great findings enables all four of the key ideas from Built to Last. To briefly review, those four ideas are 1. Clock Building, Not Time Telling. Build an organization that can endure and adapt through multiple generations of leaders and multiple product life cycles the exact opposite of being built around a single great leader or a single great idea. 198 Jim 2. Genius Embrace both extremes on a number of dimensions at the same time. Instead of choosing A ORB, figure out how to have A AND B purpose AND profit, continuity AND change, freedom AND responsibility, etc. 3. Core Ideology. Instill core values (essential and enduring tenets) and core purpose (fundamental reason for being beyond just making money) as principles to guide decisions and inspire people throughout the organization over along period of time. 4. Preserve the Progress. Preserve the core ideology as an anchor point while stimulating change, improvement, innovation, and renewal in everything else. Change practices and strategies while holding core values and purpose fixed. Set and achieve consistent with the core ideology. Download 3.69 Mb. Share with your friends:
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